CA2035322C - Sensor controlled surface to sewer feeding system for ice and snow - Google Patents
Sensor controlled surface to sewer feeding system for ice and snowInfo
- Publication number
- CA2035322C CA2035322C CA002035322A CA2035322A CA2035322C CA 2035322 C CA2035322 C CA 2035322C CA 002035322 A CA002035322 A CA 002035322A CA 2035322 A CA2035322 A CA 2035322A CA 2035322 C CA2035322 C CA 2035322C
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- snow
- grinding
- disposal
- bin
- receive
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired - Lifetime
Links
- 239000007788 liquid Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 24
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 18
- 239000011248 coating agent Substances 0.000 claims description 5
- 238000000576 coating method Methods 0.000 claims description 5
- 238000010438 heat treatment Methods 0.000 claims description 4
- 230000001419 dependent effect Effects 0.000 claims 2
- 230000000694 effects Effects 0.000 claims 1
- 239000002184 metal Substances 0.000 description 4
- 239000010865 sewage Substances 0.000 description 3
- 239000004567 concrete Substances 0.000 description 2
- 239000000446 fuel Substances 0.000 description 2
- 229920000642 polymer Polymers 0.000 description 2
- 239000002023 wood Substances 0.000 description 2
- XUIMIQQOPSSXEZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N Silicon Chemical compound [Si] XUIMIQQOPSSXEZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 229910000831 Steel Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 239000004809 Teflon Substances 0.000 description 1
- 229920006362 Teflon® Polymers 0.000 description 1
- 238000010521 absorption reaction Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000003638 chemical reducing agent Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000004140 cleaning Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000007599 discharging Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000005265 energy consumption Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000002844 melting Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000008018 melting Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000004048 modification Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000004033 plastic Substances 0.000 description 1
- 229910052710 silicon Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 239000010703 silicon Substances 0.000 description 1
- 239000010959 steel Substances 0.000 description 1
- 239000000126 substance Substances 0.000 description 1
- XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N water Substances O XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
Classifications
-
- E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
- E01—CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS, RAILWAYS, OR BRIDGES
- E01H—STREET CLEANING; CLEANING OF PERMANENT WAYS; CLEANING BEACHES; DISPERSING OR PREVENTING FOG IN GENERAL CLEANING STREET OR RAILWAY FURNITURE OR TUNNEL WALLS
- E01H5/00—Removing snow or ice from roads or like surfaces; Grading or roughening snow or ice
- E01H5/10—Removing snow or ice from roads or like surfaces; Grading or roughening snow or ice by application of heat for melting snow or ice, whether cleared or not, combined or not with clearing or removing mud or water, e.g. burners for melting in situ, heated clearing instruments; Cleaning snow by blowing or suction only
- E01H5/102—Self-contained devices for melting dislodged snow or ice, e.g. built-in melting chambers, movable melting tanks
-
- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
- Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y10S241/00—Solid material comminution or disintegration
- Y10S241/17—Ice crushers
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Architecture (AREA)
- Civil Engineering (AREA)
- Structural Engineering (AREA)
- Cleaning Of Streets, Tracks, Or Beaches (AREA)
- Road Paving Structures (AREA)
- Cleaning In General (AREA)
Abstract
There is disclosed a method and apparatus for disposal of snow in urban areas. Snow is disposed of using existing manhole connections to sewer systems with a portable disposal unit formed of snow receiving bin, a grinding means, means for projecting the ground snow into a trajectory downwardly into the sewer and preferably with sensing means to sense whether there is a blocked sewer conduit as well as to determine the load carrying capacity of the sewer liquid. In this way, the grinding means may be driven by variable speed motors. The system and method permit the use of already existing sewer systems, and is more economical than trucking snow to disposal sites.
Description
This invention relates to a snow disposal or manipulation system and a method therefor.
In cities and towns where snow is ploughed from the streets or similar areas, and subsequently collected for disposal, it is generally the norm that the snow is collected by a snow blower or loader and placed into trucks, which then transport the collected snow to land sites where it is dumped and permitted to melt during warmer weather.
Snow removal has become a very expensive and time consuming affair. In general, the collection and disposal of snow can run into the millions of dollars each year even for smaller cities and towns. To a large extent, the cost of snow disposal relates to the cartage of snow from the streets to the areas where it is to be stored or dumped. In modern cities, since there is very little area for the snow to be dumped, it must be transported significant distances to find vacant land sites.
In the past, other alternatives have been considered such as dumping of the snow at closer locations where there may be a lake or stream. However, it is not as environmentally desirable to do this since snow gathered from streets is frequently polluted.
On the other hand, most cities have an underground sewage system and as such, the underground conduits normally carry large volumes of warm water or liquid, which may then be treated at sewage treatment plants. Again, most cities have a relatively large number of conduits extending throughout the city infrastructure but such conduits, which connect the city streets via manhole covers, are generally only small diameter conduits, e.g. two to four feet or so. Up until now, it has basically been impossible to be able to use the common type of manholes and associated conduits since no means has existed for loading or discharging snow from cartage vehicles into the sewer systems.
Other proposals for disposing of snow have also included devices for melting snow into the sewer system. In general, cartage trucks will take a load of snow to a central point and dump the load into large heated bins, which melt the snow using electrical or fuel fired burners. Such a procedure is quite costly in terms of energy consumption and is not economically advantageous.
It would therefore be desirable if the conventional sewer system could be employed to dispose of snow, thus reducing the cartage distances and at the same time, eliminating snow build up in vacant land sites.
According to this invention, and in one aspect thereof, there is provided a snow disposal system comprising: snow receiving means adapted to receive a charge of snow to be disposed of; first grinding means for grinding the charge of snow into a generally particulate form and for advancing the same in a disposal direction; means for effecting a projection o snow discharged by the first grinding means in a path removed from the first grinding means; disposal means for receiving projected snow from the last-mentioned means located downstream in a direction in which the snow is projected by the last-mentioned means, the disposal means including a conduit having a liquid flow adapted to '~J
_ 20353~2 _ 3 receive and transport the disposed product away from the disposal site.
In preferred embodiments of the present invention, the disposal system includes receiving means adapted to receive, e.g. truck loads of snow from street cleaning operations. To this end, the receiving means may be a bin-like structure in which the upper portion is dimensioned so as to receive a load of snow which may be discharged from a dump truck by backing up the truck and emptying the snow into the bin, or in other cases, the load of snow may be pushed by e.g. a bulldozer into the bin. The bin will have a narrower discharge end, dimensioned preferably in close proximation to the size of a manhole opening connecting with a sewer system conduit. Thus, the walls of the bin may be tapered to a narrower throat section.
To prevent snow from adhering to the bin, the material from which the bin is constructed of, e.g. sheet metal, plastic, concrete, wood, etc., may be provided with a coating of a suitable slippery substance such as a silicon polymer, a "Teflon" polymer, etc. Alternately, where the bin is made of e.g. metal or concrete, the bin may be heated to prevent snow adherence or buildup thereon. In a still further embodiment, where using wood, metal or like bins, vibrating means may be employed for the same purpose.
In a particularly preferred embodiment, the grinding means include at least a pair of rollers having counter rotating blades and means for driving said counter rotating blades. It is preferred that the bin like structure is generally vertically oriented relative to Z035~
the grinding means and the grinding means is located beneath the bin.
Suitable grinding means may be e.g. one or more pairs of counter rotating blades, two or more rotating augers, or the like. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that any suitable grinding means may be employed.
In this respect, the grinding means need not necessarily be located within the bin like structure but rather, can be disposed exteriorly thereof beneath the discharge opening of the bin like structure.
In another preferred aspect, the means for effecting the projection of snow is disposed directly below the grinding means and is adapted to project ground up snow from said grinding means in a generally vertical trajectory into a conduit of the sewer system which has liquid therein. Typically, such means may be in the form of an impeller or like assembly which receives the snow and by means of one or more high speed blades, the snow is projected with high velocity downwardly into the conduit and sewer system.
The impeller means may have separate drive means associated with it, relative to the drive means for the grinding component. If desired, however, similar drive means which drive the grinding means may be geared to the impeller means for this purpose.
In a particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention, the system includes sensing means which controls the speed of the motors for the grinding Z0353;~2 _ 5 means. To this end, the grinding means are preferably driven by variable speed motors, or alternately, constant speed motors may be employed using variable speed mechanical gear or gear reducing means to control the speed of the motor. In turn, the variable speed motors, or constant speed motors with variable speed gears and the like, can be controlled by control means responsive to sensing means. The sensing means preferably sense the absorption capacity of the liquid into which the snow is absorbed; thus, sensing means for measuring the heat load of the liquid can be employed. Such sensing means may take various forms but e.g. temperature and flow sensing means can be employed for this purpose.
In addition, sensing means are also preferably employed to sense any blockage in the trajectory path of the snow. Such sensing means can be electronic to determine whether snow forms a blockage in the conduit.
By using the sensing means, the speed of snow disposal can be varied to fit the particular sewage system which is used for snow disposal, at any time during the night or day. Thus, where the load bearing capacity of the liquid is limited due to low temperatures, predetermined rotation of the motors will permit discharge only of the quantity of snow that can be absorbed.
According to another aspect of this invention there is also provided a method of snow disposal comprising:
providing snow receiving means adapted to receive and charge of snow to be disposed of; grinding said charge of snow into a generally particulate form; advancing the ground snow in a disposal direction; projecting snow 2035;~
discharged by said grinding step in a path spaced from said grinding step; disposing of said snow in a disposal means for receiving projected snow downstream in a direction from which said snow is projected, said snow being disposed of in disposal means including a conduit having a liquid flow adapted to receive and transport particulate snow away from the disposal site.
In a preferred method, the snow is initially charged into a bin like structure which is adapted to receive snow to be disposed of. Further, there may be provided means for preventing snow charged to said structure from adhering to said structure; to this end the method may include the step of heating one or more parts of the structure or in an alternative embodiment, the method may include the step of coating the structure with a coating adapted to prevent the snow from sticking thereto.
In preferred method embodiments, there is also included the step of sensing the load carrying capacity of the liquid into which the snow is to be discharged in order to determine the load carrying capacity of the liquid and then altering the feeding step and grinding step to coordinate the same with the load bearing capacity of the liquid so as to avoid overloading the liquid capacity to absorb the snow.
Having thus generally described the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, illustrating preferred embodiments and in which Figure 1 is a vertical elevational view, partially in section, showing a typical sewer system utilizing the device of the present invention; and Figure 2 is a diagrammatic representation showing trans-porting and placement of the system of the present invention.
Referring now to Figure 1, an example of a sewer system as may be encountered in many cities includes a main or primary conduit indicated by reference numeral 10, which may lead to a collector system for the overall sewer system or which may be a side branch conduit feeding into a primary conduit.
The underground conduit 10 is normally connected to vertically oriented conduits 12 which are of a generally cylindrical configuration; there may also be included intermediate conduits 14 feeding into the vertical conduit where liquid sources are then discharged into the conduit 12 and thence to conduit 10.
In some cases, the sewer system will also include access or vent conduits such as conduit 16 associated with another smaller conduit 14.
Conduit 12 terminates, at a surface level indicated by reference numeral 18 generally in a rimmed circular or rectangular opening, which includes normally a steel or metal rim 20 connecting a manhole opening to the conduit 12 via a tapering collar 22. As indicated previously, such openings normally are between two to four feet in diameter.
The system of this invention includes a mobile snow grinding and projection system indicated generally by reference numeral 24 and which includes a tapering bin-like structure 26 having walls extending downwardly into B
Z035;~
a narrower throat portion 28. The walls 30 of the bin like structure may include heating means 32 in the form of electrical, gas or fuel fired burners or heaters, or the like, which aid in preventing the snow from sticking or adhering to the walls 30 of the bin like structure 26.
If desired, a grate may be provided over the bin 26, which grate is indicated by reference numeral 27, to prevent foreign objects from entering the bin. This grate can be in the form of a suitable mesh or screen.
In the embodiment illustrated, located within the bin like structure 26 are grinding means in the form of rotating rollers 34 which carry blades 36 so that the action of the blades 36, upon a load or charge of snow placed into the bin like structure 26, is such that the snow is ground into a particulate form.
Operating in conjunction with the grinding means is an impeller assembly indicated generally by reference numeral 38 which is driven by a motor 40. The impeller assembly 38 may be a conventional assembly capable of receiving particulate snow and projecting the same into a downwardly extending trajectory into the conduit 12.
Drive means in the form of a pair of motors 42 are provided for effecting rotation of the grinding means.
Such motors 42 are preferably variable speed motors or constant speed motors connected to a variable speed reducer, and control means in the form of a suitable conventional switch will determine the speed of rotation of the motors. Operating in conjunction with the switch for controlling the speed of the motor are a pair of sensors 44, 46, the first of which is placed within the -liquid in the sewer system and the second of which is placed generally in the path of the ground snow. Sensor 44 is adapted to determine the load carrying capacity of the liquid in terms of its ability to absorb and carry snow placed in the liquid.
Sensor 46 is adapted to determine blockage of the conduit 12 in feeding the snow into the sewer system. Thus, both sensors may be connected to the switch controlling the motors so that upon a blockage occurring, the motors will cease feeding snow to the impeller means 38, or on the other hand, when the load carrying capacity of the liquid in the sewer system reaches a maximum, the amount of snow being fed to the sewer system can be reduced. Suitable conventional sensors 44 and 46 can be used; in practice, sensors 44 and 46 may be connected to a control panel which in turn, is coupled to a control switch for controlling the speed of rotation of motors 42. Both sensors 44 and 46 may be placed in the sewer system either in a permanent or temporary manner, depending on whether the same manhole opening is to be used year after year.
The apparatus of this invention may be suspended or mounted on suitable frame members 50 which are adapted to surround the manhole opening, sit on the adjacent road or like structure. Such frame members 50 can be a separate frame structure and need not be part of the overall assembly.
In the system illustrated in Figure 1, where a side sewer conduit 14 enters into a vertical conduit 12, liquid 60 gener-ally flows in the direction of arrow 62 and falls to the bottom of conduit 12 where it enters into the primary conduit 10. By forcefully projecting ~7 Z035~;~2 snow using the system of this invention downwardly in the direction of arrow 64, the projected snow is mixed with and absorbed by the liquid in the sewer system, whereafter it is discharged into the primary conduit lo.
Referring to Figure 2, since snow disposal operations are only intermittently required, the system of the present invention can be transported by suitable means, e.g. a crane, to a site where an appropriately selected manhole and associated sewer system is to be used. Upon termination of the snow disposal operations, the system can then be transported to a storage place.
Of course, if desired, the system may be left in place during the winter months.
Having described preferred embodiments, it will be understood that various modifications can be made to the above embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.
In cities and towns where snow is ploughed from the streets or similar areas, and subsequently collected for disposal, it is generally the norm that the snow is collected by a snow blower or loader and placed into trucks, which then transport the collected snow to land sites where it is dumped and permitted to melt during warmer weather.
Snow removal has become a very expensive and time consuming affair. In general, the collection and disposal of snow can run into the millions of dollars each year even for smaller cities and towns. To a large extent, the cost of snow disposal relates to the cartage of snow from the streets to the areas where it is to be stored or dumped. In modern cities, since there is very little area for the snow to be dumped, it must be transported significant distances to find vacant land sites.
In the past, other alternatives have been considered such as dumping of the snow at closer locations where there may be a lake or stream. However, it is not as environmentally desirable to do this since snow gathered from streets is frequently polluted.
On the other hand, most cities have an underground sewage system and as such, the underground conduits normally carry large volumes of warm water or liquid, which may then be treated at sewage treatment plants. Again, most cities have a relatively large number of conduits extending throughout the city infrastructure but such conduits, which connect the city streets via manhole covers, are generally only small diameter conduits, e.g. two to four feet or so. Up until now, it has basically been impossible to be able to use the common type of manholes and associated conduits since no means has existed for loading or discharging snow from cartage vehicles into the sewer systems.
Other proposals for disposing of snow have also included devices for melting snow into the sewer system. In general, cartage trucks will take a load of snow to a central point and dump the load into large heated bins, which melt the snow using electrical or fuel fired burners. Such a procedure is quite costly in terms of energy consumption and is not economically advantageous.
It would therefore be desirable if the conventional sewer system could be employed to dispose of snow, thus reducing the cartage distances and at the same time, eliminating snow build up in vacant land sites.
According to this invention, and in one aspect thereof, there is provided a snow disposal system comprising: snow receiving means adapted to receive a charge of snow to be disposed of; first grinding means for grinding the charge of snow into a generally particulate form and for advancing the same in a disposal direction; means for effecting a projection o snow discharged by the first grinding means in a path removed from the first grinding means; disposal means for receiving projected snow from the last-mentioned means located downstream in a direction in which the snow is projected by the last-mentioned means, the disposal means including a conduit having a liquid flow adapted to '~J
_ 20353~2 _ 3 receive and transport the disposed product away from the disposal site.
In preferred embodiments of the present invention, the disposal system includes receiving means adapted to receive, e.g. truck loads of snow from street cleaning operations. To this end, the receiving means may be a bin-like structure in which the upper portion is dimensioned so as to receive a load of snow which may be discharged from a dump truck by backing up the truck and emptying the snow into the bin, or in other cases, the load of snow may be pushed by e.g. a bulldozer into the bin. The bin will have a narrower discharge end, dimensioned preferably in close proximation to the size of a manhole opening connecting with a sewer system conduit. Thus, the walls of the bin may be tapered to a narrower throat section.
To prevent snow from adhering to the bin, the material from which the bin is constructed of, e.g. sheet metal, plastic, concrete, wood, etc., may be provided with a coating of a suitable slippery substance such as a silicon polymer, a "Teflon" polymer, etc. Alternately, where the bin is made of e.g. metal or concrete, the bin may be heated to prevent snow adherence or buildup thereon. In a still further embodiment, where using wood, metal or like bins, vibrating means may be employed for the same purpose.
In a particularly preferred embodiment, the grinding means include at least a pair of rollers having counter rotating blades and means for driving said counter rotating blades. It is preferred that the bin like structure is generally vertically oriented relative to Z035~
the grinding means and the grinding means is located beneath the bin.
Suitable grinding means may be e.g. one or more pairs of counter rotating blades, two or more rotating augers, or the like. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that any suitable grinding means may be employed.
In this respect, the grinding means need not necessarily be located within the bin like structure but rather, can be disposed exteriorly thereof beneath the discharge opening of the bin like structure.
In another preferred aspect, the means for effecting the projection of snow is disposed directly below the grinding means and is adapted to project ground up snow from said grinding means in a generally vertical trajectory into a conduit of the sewer system which has liquid therein. Typically, such means may be in the form of an impeller or like assembly which receives the snow and by means of one or more high speed blades, the snow is projected with high velocity downwardly into the conduit and sewer system.
The impeller means may have separate drive means associated with it, relative to the drive means for the grinding component. If desired, however, similar drive means which drive the grinding means may be geared to the impeller means for this purpose.
In a particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention, the system includes sensing means which controls the speed of the motors for the grinding Z0353;~2 _ 5 means. To this end, the grinding means are preferably driven by variable speed motors, or alternately, constant speed motors may be employed using variable speed mechanical gear or gear reducing means to control the speed of the motor. In turn, the variable speed motors, or constant speed motors with variable speed gears and the like, can be controlled by control means responsive to sensing means. The sensing means preferably sense the absorption capacity of the liquid into which the snow is absorbed; thus, sensing means for measuring the heat load of the liquid can be employed. Such sensing means may take various forms but e.g. temperature and flow sensing means can be employed for this purpose.
In addition, sensing means are also preferably employed to sense any blockage in the trajectory path of the snow. Such sensing means can be electronic to determine whether snow forms a blockage in the conduit.
By using the sensing means, the speed of snow disposal can be varied to fit the particular sewage system which is used for snow disposal, at any time during the night or day. Thus, where the load bearing capacity of the liquid is limited due to low temperatures, predetermined rotation of the motors will permit discharge only of the quantity of snow that can be absorbed.
According to another aspect of this invention there is also provided a method of snow disposal comprising:
providing snow receiving means adapted to receive and charge of snow to be disposed of; grinding said charge of snow into a generally particulate form; advancing the ground snow in a disposal direction; projecting snow 2035;~
discharged by said grinding step in a path spaced from said grinding step; disposing of said snow in a disposal means for receiving projected snow downstream in a direction from which said snow is projected, said snow being disposed of in disposal means including a conduit having a liquid flow adapted to receive and transport particulate snow away from the disposal site.
In a preferred method, the snow is initially charged into a bin like structure which is adapted to receive snow to be disposed of. Further, there may be provided means for preventing snow charged to said structure from adhering to said structure; to this end the method may include the step of heating one or more parts of the structure or in an alternative embodiment, the method may include the step of coating the structure with a coating adapted to prevent the snow from sticking thereto.
In preferred method embodiments, there is also included the step of sensing the load carrying capacity of the liquid into which the snow is to be discharged in order to determine the load carrying capacity of the liquid and then altering the feeding step and grinding step to coordinate the same with the load bearing capacity of the liquid so as to avoid overloading the liquid capacity to absorb the snow.
Having thus generally described the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, illustrating preferred embodiments and in which Figure 1 is a vertical elevational view, partially in section, showing a typical sewer system utilizing the device of the present invention; and Figure 2 is a diagrammatic representation showing trans-porting and placement of the system of the present invention.
Referring now to Figure 1, an example of a sewer system as may be encountered in many cities includes a main or primary conduit indicated by reference numeral 10, which may lead to a collector system for the overall sewer system or which may be a side branch conduit feeding into a primary conduit.
The underground conduit 10 is normally connected to vertically oriented conduits 12 which are of a generally cylindrical configuration; there may also be included intermediate conduits 14 feeding into the vertical conduit where liquid sources are then discharged into the conduit 12 and thence to conduit 10.
In some cases, the sewer system will also include access or vent conduits such as conduit 16 associated with another smaller conduit 14.
Conduit 12 terminates, at a surface level indicated by reference numeral 18 generally in a rimmed circular or rectangular opening, which includes normally a steel or metal rim 20 connecting a manhole opening to the conduit 12 via a tapering collar 22. As indicated previously, such openings normally are between two to four feet in diameter.
The system of this invention includes a mobile snow grinding and projection system indicated generally by reference numeral 24 and which includes a tapering bin-like structure 26 having walls extending downwardly into B
Z035;~
a narrower throat portion 28. The walls 30 of the bin like structure may include heating means 32 in the form of electrical, gas or fuel fired burners or heaters, or the like, which aid in preventing the snow from sticking or adhering to the walls 30 of the bin like structure 26.
If desired, a grate may be provided over the bin 26, which grate is indicated by reference numeral 27, to prevent foreign objects from entering the bin. This grate can be in the form of a suitable mesh or screen.
In the embodiment illustrated, located within the bin like structure 26 are grinding means in the form of rotating rollers 34 which carry blades 36 so that the action of the blades 36, upon a load or charge of snow placed into the bin like structure 26, is such that the snow is ground into a particulate form.
Operating in conjunction with the grinding means is an impeller assembly indicated generally by reference numeral 38 which is driven by a motor 40. The impeller assembly 38 may be a conventional assembly capable of receiving particulate snow and projecting the same into a downwardly extending trajectory into the conduit 12.
Drive means in the form of a pair of motors 42 are provided for effecting rotation of the grinding means.
Such motors 42 are preferably variable speed motors or constant speed motors connected to a variable speed reducer, and control means in the form of a suitable conventional switch will determine the speed of rotation of the motors. Operating in conjunction with the switch for controlling the speed of the motor are a pair of sensors 44, 46, the first of which is placed within the -liquid in the sewer system and the second of which is placed generally in the path of the ground snow. Sensor 44 is adapted to determine the load carrying capacity of the liquid in terms of its ability to absorb and carry snow placed in the liquid.
Sensor 46 is adapted to determine blockage of the conduit 12 in feeding the snow into the sewer system. Thus, both sensors may be connected to the switch controlling the motors so that upon a blockage occurring, the motors will cease feeding snow to the impeller means 38, or on the other hand, when the load carrying capacity of the liquid in the sewer system reaches a maximum, the amount of snow being fed to the sewer system can be reduced. Suitable conventional sensors 44 and 46 can be used; in practice, sensors 44 and 46 may be connected to a control panel which in turn, is coupled to a control switch for controlling the speed of rotation of motors 42. Both sensors 44 and 46 may be placed in the sewer system either in a permanent or temporary manner, depending on whether the same manhole opening is to be used year after year.
The apparatus of this invention may be suspended or mounted on suitable frame members 50 which are adapted to surround the manhole opening, sit on the adjacent road or like structure. Such frame members 50 can be a separate frame structure and need not be part of the overall assembly.
In the system illustrated in Figure 1, where a side sewer conduit 14 enters into a vertical conduit 12, liquid 60 gener-ally flows in the direction of arrow 62 and falls to the bottom of conduit 12 where it enters into the primary conduit 10. By forcefully projecting ~7 Z035~;~2 snow using the system of this invention downwardly in the direction of arrow 64, the projected snow is mixed with and absorbed by the liquid in the sewer system, whereafter it is discharged into the primary conduit lo.
Referring to Figure 2, since snow disposal operations are only intermittently required, the system of the present invention can be transported by suitable means, e.g. a crane, to a site where an appropriately selected manhole and associated sewer system is to be used. Upon termination of the snow disposal operations, the system can then be transported to a storage place.
Of course, if desired, the system may be left in place during the winter months.
Having described preferred embodiments, it will be understood that various modifications can be made to the above embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.
Claims (17)
1. A snow disposal system comprising:
snow receiving means adapted to receive a charge of snow to be disposed of;
first grinding means for grinding said charge of snow into a generally particulate form and for advancing the same in a disposal direction;
means for effecting a projection of snow discharged by said first grinding means in a path removed from said first grinding means;
disposal means for receiving projected snow from said last mentioned means located downstream in a direction in which said snow is projected by said last mentioned means, said disposal means including a conduit having a liquid flow adapted to receive and transport disposed product away from the disposal site.
snow receiving means adapted to receive a charge of snow to be disposed of;
first grinding means for grinding said charge of snow into a generally particulate form and for advancing the same in a disposal direction;
means for effecting a projection of snow discharged by said first grinding means in a path removed from said first grinding means;
disposal means for receiving projected snow from said last mentioned means located downstream in a direction in which said snow is projected by said last mentioned means, said disposal means including a conduit having a liquid flow adapted to receive and transport disposed product away from the disposal site.
2. A system as defined in claim 1, wherein said snow receiving means comprises a bin like structure adapted to receive snow to be disposed of, wherein snow may be charged to said bin like structure for feeding to said first grinding means.
3. A system as defined in claim 2, wherein said bin like structure includes means for preventing snow charged to said structure from adhering to said structure.
4. A system as defined in claim 3, wherein said bin like structure includes walls, said walls including a coating adapted to prevent snow from sticking to said walls.
5. A system as defined in claim 3, wherein said bin like structure includes walls, said walls including means for vibrating said walls or means for heating said walls to prevent snow buildup thereon.
6. A system as defined in claim 2, wherein said snow receiving means is vertically oriented relative to said first grinding means, said first grinding means being located beneath said bin-like structure and being adapted to receive snow to be ground up by said grinding means.
7. A system as defined in claim 2, wherein said means for effecting said projection of snow are disposed below said first grinding means, said means being adapted to project ground up snow from said grinding means in a generally vertical trajectory into a conduit system having liquid therein.
8. A system as defined in claim 2, wherein said first grinding means includes at least a pair of counter rotating blades, means for driving said counter rotating blades, means for driving said means for effecting said projection of snow, said system including control means adapted to govern said motors to effect a variable speed of rotation of said driving means dependent on the capability of said liquid to receive and transport snow from said site of disposal of snow.
9. A method of snow disposal comprising:
providing snow receiving means adapted to receive a charge of snow to be disposed of;
grinding said charge of snow into a generally particulate form;
advancing the ground snow in a disposal direction;
projecting snow discharged by said grinding step in a path spaced from said grinding step;
disposing of said snow in a disposal means for receiving projected snow downstream in a direction from which said snow is projected, said snow being disposed of in disposal means including a conduit having a liquid flow adapted to receive and transport particulate snow away from the disposal site.
providing snow receiving means adapted to receive a charge of snow to be disposed of;
grinding said charge of snow into a generally particulate form;
advancing the ground snow in a disposal direction;
projecting snow discharged by said grinding step in a path spaced from said grinding step;
disposing of said snow in a disposal means for receiving projected snow downstream in a direction from which said snow is projected, said snow being disposed of in disposal means including a conduit having a liquid flow adapted to receive and transport particulate snow away from the disposal site.
10. A method as defined in claim 9, wherein said snow is initially charged into a bin like structure adapted to receive snow to be disposed of.
11. A method as defined in claim 10, including the step of preventing snow charged to said structure from adhering to said structure.
12. A method as defined in claim 10, including the step of providing a coating on said bin like structure to prevent snow from sticking to said walls.
13. A method as defined in claim 10, including the step of heating said bin like structure to prevent snow buildup thereon.
14. A method as defined in claim 10, including the step of feeding in a vertical direction snow from said bin like structure to said grinding step.
15. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein said step of projecting ground up snow is carried out in a generally vertical trajectory.
16. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein said grinding step is carried out with at least a pair of counter rotating blades, means for driving said counter rotating blades.
17. A method as defined in claim 16, including the step of providing control means for controlling the speed of said driving means whereby the speed of the driving means is dependent on the capability of said liquid to receive said transport snow from said site of disposal of snow.
Priority Applications (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002035322A CA2035322C (en) | 1991-01-30 | 1991-01-30 | Sensor controlled surface to sewer feeding system for ice and snow |
| US07/827,644 US5199198A (en) | 1991-01-30 | 1992-01-29 | Apparatus and method for snow disposal |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002035322A CA2035322C (en) | 1991-01-30 | 1991-01-30 | Sensor controlled surface to sewer feeding system for ice and snow |
Publications (2)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2035322A1 CA2035322A1 (en) | 1992-07-31 |
| CA2035322C true CA2035322C (en) | 1997-08-26 |
Family
ID=4146917
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002035322A Expired - Lifetime CA2035322C (en) | 1991-01-30 | 1991-01-30 | Sensor controlled surface to sewer feeding system for ice and snow |
Country Status (2)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| US (1) | US5199198A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA2035322C (en) |
Families Citing this family (15)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US20030075626A1 (en) * | 1998-10-28 | 2003-04-24 | Maguire Stephen B. | Shuttle granulator |
| RU2188890C1 (en) * | 2001-10-10 | 2002-09-10 | Открытое акционерное общество Научно-исследовательский институт строительного и дорожного машиностроения | Method and apparatus for disposal of snow-and-ice mass removed from megalopolis territory |
| RU2233950C2 (en) * | 2002-03-18 | 2004-08-10 | Московское Государственное Унитарное Предприятие "Мосводоканал" | Snow melter |
| RU2225920C2 (en) * | 2002-05-07 | 2004-03-20 | ОАО "Научно-исследовательский институт строительного и дорожного машиностроения" | Snow-ice mass utilization plant |
| RU2226592C2 (en) * | 2002-07-02 | 2004-04-10 | ОАО "Научно-исследовательский институт строительного и дорожного машиностроения" | Snow melter plant discharge hatch gate |
| RU2237136C1 (en) * | 2003-03-07 | 2004-09-27 | Государственное унитарное предприятие города Москвы "Институт МосводоканалНИИпроект" | Device for melting snow |
| US6971596B2 (en) * | 2003-12-05 | 2005-12-06 | Monroe James C | Snow and/or ice liquefier |
| US20060272182A1 (en) * | 2005-06-01 | 2006-12-07 | Gertner Murray S | Snow removal system |
| US7814898B2 (en) * | 2005-08-08 | 2010-10-19 | Snow Dragon Llc | High capacity snow melting apparatus and method |
| CA2574504A1 (en) * | 2006-01-18 | 2007-07-18 | Wilhelm Leitner | Snow collection and transportation system |
| US20100202834A1 (en) * | 2007-01-18 | 2010-08-12 | Joseph Leitner | Snow transportation system |
| EP2260151A2 (en) * | 2008-02-21 | 2010-12-15 | William R. Tucker | Enclosed snow melt system |
| NO334886B1 (en) * | 2009-01-26 | 2014-06-30 | Ncc Construction As | Plant and process for melting and cleaning of snow and ice |
| US9416652B2 (en) | 2013-08-08 | 2016-08-16 | Vetco Gray Inc. | Sensing magnetized portions of a wellhead system to monitor fatigue loading |
| JP6861995B2 (en) * | 2017-07-14 | 2021-04-21 | 株式会社赤羽コンクリート | Gutter snow melting tool and gutter structure |
Family Cites Families (14)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US642314A (en) * | 1899-01-27 | 1900-01-30 | John Hinchliffe | System for liquefying snow and disposing of same. |
| US770169A (en) * | 1904-01-30 | 1904-09-13 | Henry Cornman Davis | Snow-melting apparatus. |
| US942337A (en) * | 1909-01-04 | 1909-12-07 | Clarence L Moore | Snow-melter. |
| US1150946A (en) * | 1914-03-27 | 1915-08-24 | John Kenlon | Method and apparatus for removing snow. |
| US1388027A (en) * | 1918-08-19 | 1921-08-16 | Connolly Patrick | Snow-melting apparatus |
| US1468977A (en) * | 1922-11-28 | 1923-09-25 | Schiesari Mario | Method of and apparatus for removing snow |
| US1665503A (en) * | 1925-05-05 | 1928-04-10 | Mcclave Roscoe Parke | Apparatus for the removal of snow |
| US2320723A (en) * | 1941-04-02 | 1943-06-01 | Levi P M Gaylord | Auger attachment for snowplows or the like |
| US2684209A (en) * | 1952-02-06 | 1954-07-20 | Gangemi Carmine | Rotary snow and ice breaker |
| US3349506A (en) * | 1965-01-27 | 1967-10-31 | George H Rubin | Disc snow thrower |
| US3583084A (en) * | 1968-12-04 | 1971-06-08 | Frink Sno Plows Inc | Rotary snowplow |
| US4100687A (en) * | 1976-09-03 | 1978-07-18 | Adolph Jeswine | Vertical auger snow removal device |
| SU1081267A1 (en) * | 1982-12-13 | 1984-03-23 | Предприятие П/Я Г-4617 | Snow-thawing installation |
| SU1323632A1 (en) * | 1986-03-21 | 1987-07-15 | Научно-Исследовательский И Конструкторско-Технологический Институт Городского Хозяйства | Snow-thawing unit |
-
1991
- 1991-01-30 CA CA002035322A patent/CA2035322C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
1992
- 1992-01-29 US US07/827,644 patent/US5199198A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| US5199198A (en) | 1993-04-06 |
| CA2035322A1 (en) | 1992-07-31 |
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|---|---|---|---|
| EEER | Examination request | ||
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Effective date: 20110130 |